Although once a proponent of electric cars, Zehner suggests in his article published in Spectrum that electric cars may even have greater environmental consequences in their entire life cycles than gasoline-powered cars do.

Currently a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley’s Science, Technology and Society Center, Zehner says proponents often overlook the indirect processes that go into the manufacturing of these vehicles — including the mining of rare earth metals and disposal of batteries — that contribute to environmental damage.

“Upon closer consideration, moving from petroleum-fueled vehicles to electric cars begins to look more and more like shifting from one brand of cigarettes to another,” Zehner said.